Newsy bits: Glidden, hirings, Dini, etc.

First, the most exciting news: I’ve just signed a contract with Vertigo, who will be publishing my first book, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less! The book will be in color, 200 pages, and I’ll be working on it for the next year or so. I couldn’t be happier!

Because of this, there aren’t going to be any more chapters released as minicomics. I know I told some people at Stumptown and MoCCA that I’d have chapter 3 ready for SPX but well…sorry about that.

To make up for it I do have a new non-Israel mini for SPX. It’s called Eight Days Out, and its a sketchbook travelogue following my brother Dan and I as we drove across the U.S. in January. Its 80 pages long and you can see the first 30 pages in the comics section

Anime company ADV Films remains closed, with its servers offline. According to an ADV source, “it’s day to day” as to when the company will re-open. Power is still out to much of the area, with many traffic lights not operating and streets dangerous to travel.

Best wishes to all our friends in the area.

§ ICV2 also reports on two new hires at the CBLDF: Mike Scigliano, formerly of Wizard and DC, and Jill Friedman. Good luck to both!

Scigliano comes to the Fund from Wizard Conventions, where he oversaw sales, marketing, and logistics. Prior to his stint at Wizard, Scigliano spent time at DC Comics in sales and marketing and in comic retailing. In his new position at the Fund, Scigliano will oversee the organization’s convention presence, improving the Fund’s membership premium offerings, and assisting in overall management.

§ THE ALCOHOLIC, the graphic novel by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel, got a shout out in today’s Page Six, pretty much the ultimate sign You Are Somebody:

MONICA Lewinsky is now a cartoon character. In “The Alcoholic,” a new graphic novel by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel, a booze-addled writer meets the Portly Pepperpot at a book reading. “I tried not to, but I couldn’t help myself – I stared at her mouth,” he explains. As the two dine with friends at Veselka in the East Village, Lewinsky ogles a plate of kielbasa. “When she said the kielbasa looked delicious, it was like all the sound drained out of a very noisy restaurant,” the character says. “The whole table went into collective shock. We all thought the same thing: ‘Monica thinks that [bleep] looks delicious!’ ”

At the core of the story, Kris is caught up trying to find the truth behind the kidnapping, smuggling and experimentation of a little girl with a deadly power. But there’s so much more to the story than that. There are all the nasty little errands assigned to a cop (Kalenov) working directly for the Mayor. There’s the constant political dealing and bribery that encompasses every part of life in Moscow. All the various dealings of criminal organizations, from organ smuggling to protection money to violent turf wars between rival gangs controlling Coke versus Pepsi. And all the cultural tidbits of Russian life that make the story feel real and give it texture.